Chapter

Food, Soil, and Pest Management

Core Case Study: Organic Agriculture Is
on the Rise
• Organic agriculture
• Crops grown without using synthetic pesticides,
synthetic inorganic fertilizers, or genetically
engineered seeds

• Animals grown without using antibiotics or synthetic

hormones

• U.S. in 2008: .6% cropland; 3.5% food sales

• Europe, Australia and New Zealand much higher

Industrialized Agriculture vs. Organic
Agriculture

Fig. 12-1, p. 277

Industrialized Agriculture

Uses synthetic inorganic fertilizers

and sewage sludge to supply plant
nutrients

Makes use of synthetic chemical

pesticides

Uses conventional and genetically

modified seeds

Depends on nonrenewable fossil fuels

(mostly oil and natural gas)

Produces significant air and water

pollution and greenhouse gases

Is globally export-oriented

Uses antibiotics and growth hormones

to produce meat and meat products

Fig. 12-1a, p. 277

Organic Agriculture

Emphasizes prevention of soil erosion

and the use of organic fertilizers such as
animal manure and compost, but no
sewage sludge to help replace lost plant
nutrients

Employs crop rotation and biological

pest control
Uses no genetically modified seeds
Reduces fossil fuel use and increases use
of renewable energy such as solar and
wind power for generating electricity

Produces less air and water pollution

and greenhouse gases

Is regionally and locally oriented

Uses no antibiotics or growth hormones
to produce meat and meat products
Fig. 12-1b, p. 277
12-1 What Is Food Security and Why Is
It Difficult to Attain?
• Concept 12-1A Many people in less-developed
countries have health problems from not getting
enough food, while many people in more-developed
countries have health problems from eating too
much food.

• Concept 12-1B The greatest obstacles to providing

enough food for everyone are poverty, political
upheaval, corruption, war, and the harmful
environmental effects of food production.
Many People Have Health Problems Because
They Do Not Get Enough to Eat
• Food security
• All or most people in a country have daily access to
enough nutritious food to lead active and healthy
lives

• Food insecurity
• Chronic hunger and poor nutrition
• Root cause: poverty
• Political upheaval, war, corruption, bad weather
 Many People Suffer from Chronic
Hunger and Malnutrition (1)
• Macronutrients
• Carbohydrates
• Proteins
• Fats

• Micronutrients
• Vitamins
• Minerals
Key Nutrients for a Healthy Human Life

Table 12-1, p. 279

 Many People Suffer from Chronic
Hunger and Malnutrition (2)
• Chronic undernutrition, hunger

• Chronic malnutrition

• 1 in 6 people in less-developed countries is

chronically undernourished or malnourished

• Famine
• Drought, flooding, war, other catastrophes
World Hunger

Figure 15, Supplement 8

 Many People Do No Get Enough
Vitamins and Minerals
• Most often vitamin and mineral deficiencies in
people in less-developed countries

• Iron

• Vitamin A

• Iodine

• Golden rice
Woman with Goiter in Bangladesh

Fig. 12-3, p. 280

 Many People Have Health Problems
from Eating Too Much
• Overnutrition
• Excess body fat from too many calories and not
enough exercise

• Similar health problems to those who are underfed

• Lower life expectancy
• Greater susceptibility to disease and illness
• Lower productivity and life quality
 12-2 How Is Food Produced?

• Concept 12-2 We have used high-input industrialized

agriculture and lower-input traditional methods to
greatly increase supplies of food.
 Food Production Has Increased
Dramatically
• Three systems produce most of our food
• Croplands: 77% on 11% world’s land area
• Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots: 16% on 29% of
world’s land area
• Aquaculture: 7%

• Importance of wheat, rice, and corn

• Tremendous increase in global food production

 Industrialized Crop Production Relies
on High-Input Monocultures
• Industrialized agriculture, high-input agriculture

• Goal is to steadily increase crop yield

• Plantation agriculture: cash crops
• Primarily in less-developed countries
• Increased use of greenhouses to raise crops
 Heavy Equipment Used to Harvest Wheat
in the United States

This farmer, harvesting a wheat crop in

the midwestern United States, relies on
expensive heavy equipment and uses
large amounts of seed, manufactured
inorganic fertilizer, and fossil fuels to
produce the crop.

Fig. 12-4, p. 281

 Plantation Agriculture: Oil Palms on Borneo in
Malaysia

Figure : These large plantations

of oil palms on the island of
Borneo in Malaysia were
planted in an area once
covered with tropical rain
forest, as seen in the
surrounding area. The fruit of
the oil palm yields palm oil,
which is widely used as
cooking oil and to make
biodiesel fuel for cars.

Fig. 12-5, p. 281

Traditional Agriculture Often Relies on
Low-Input Polycultures (1)
• Traditional subsistence agriculture
• Human labor and draft animals for family food

• Traditional intensive agriculture

• Higher yields through use of manure and water
Traditional Agriculture Often Relies on
Low-Input Polycultures (2)
• Polyculture
• Benefits over monoculture

• Grow many crops that mature at different times

• Reduced soil erosion
• Less need for fertilizer and water
 A Closer Look at Industrialized Crop
Production
• Green Revolution: increase crop yields (1950-1970)

1. Monocultures of high-yield key crops

• Rice, wheat, and corn
2. Large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, water
3. Multiple cropping
• Second Green Revolution (Since 1967)
Fast growing dwarf varieties of rice and wheat (India,
china and several developing countries in Latin
America): Producing more food on less land has helped
to protect some biodiversity by preserving large area of
forest, grasslands, wetland, and easily eroded
mountain terrain that might be used for farming.
• World grain has tripled in production (1950-1996)
because of two green revolution. Per capita food
production increased b 31% between 1961 and 1985,
but since then it has generally decline.
 Global Outlook: Total Worldwide Grain
Production (Wheat, Corn, and Rice)

Global outlook: These graphs show that worldwide grain production of wheat, corn, and rice
(left), and per capita grain production (right) grew sharply between 1961 and 2009. The
world’s three largest grain-producing countries—China, India, and the United States, in that
order—produce almost half of the world’s grains. In contrast to the United States, most
wheat produced in China and India is irrigated. Question: Why do you think grain production
per capita has grown less consistently than total grain production? (Data from U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Worldwatch Institute, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and
Fig. 12-7, p. 285
 2,000
Grain production (millions of

1,500
metric tons)

1,000

500

0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Year
Total World Grain Production

Fig. 12-7a, p. 285

 400

350
Per capita grain production
(kilograms per person)

300

250

200

150
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Year
World Grain Production per Capita

Fig. 12-7b, p. 285

 Case Study: Industrialized Food
Production in the United States
• Agribusiness
• Average farmer feeds 129 people
• Annual sales greater than auto, steel, and housing combined

• Food production: very efficient

• Americans spend 10% of income on food

• Hidden costs of subsidies and costs of pollution and

environmental degradation
 Case Study: Industrialized Food
Production in the United States
In the United States, industrialized farming has evolved into
agribusiness, as giant multinational corporations increasingly
control the growing, processing, distribution, and sale of food in
the United States and in the global marketplace.

Agriculture generates almost one-fifth of the nation’s gross

domestic product. Although agriculture employs more people
than any other industry, U.S. farms use industrialized agriculture
to produce about 17% of the world’s grain with only 0.3% of the
world’s farm labor force.
Since 1950, U.S. industrialized agriculture has more than
doubled the yield of key crops such as wheat, corn, and
soybeans without cultivating more land. Such yield increases
have kept large areas of forests, grasslands,and wetlands from
being converted to farmland.
U.S. consumers now spend about 2% of their disposable income
on food, compared to about 11% in 1948.

People in developing countries typically spend up to 40% of their

income on food. And the 1.2 billion of the world’s poor,
struggling to live on less than $1 a day, typically spend about
70% of their meager income on food.
• However, the actual prices consumers in the U.S. and other
developed countries pay for food are much higher than what
they pay at grocery stores. In addition to the direct market
prices, consumers pay taxes to give subsidies to food
producers and distributors and to help deal with the massive
pollution and environmental degradation caused by
agriculture.
• They also face higher health costs and higher insurance bills
related to the harmful environmental effects of agriculture.
• Including these harmful costs in the market prices for food
could help to bring about a shift to more sustainable and less
harmful agriculture.
Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Produce
New Crop/Livestock Varieties (1)
• First gene revolution
• Cross-breeding through artificial selection
• Slow process
• Amazing results

• Genetic engineering = second gene revolution

• Alter organism’s DNA
• Genetic modified organisms (GMOs): transgenic
organisms
Crossbreeding and Genetic Engineering Produce
New Crop/Livestock Varieties (2)
• Age of Genetic Engineering: developing crops that
are resistant to
• Heat and cold
• Herbicides
• Insect pests
• Parasites
• Viral diseases
• Drought
• Salty or acidic soil

• Promise and potential perils

 Meat Production and Consumption
Have Grown Steadily
• Animals for meat raised in
• Pastures and rangelands
• Feedlots

• Meat production increased fourfold between 1961

and 2007
• Increased demand for grain
• Demand is expected to go higher
 Industrialized Meat Production

Industrialized beef production: On this cattle feedlot in Imperial

Valley, California (USA) 40,000 cattle are fattened up on grain
for a few months before being slaughtered.
 Fish and Shellfish Production Have
Increased Dramatically
• Fishing with fleets depletes fisheries
• Aquaculture, blue revolution
• World’s fastest-growing type of food production
• Dominated by operations that raise herbivorous
species
 World Seafood Production, Including Both Wild
Catch and Aquaculture

Figure: World seafood production, including both wild catch and aquaculture, increased sharply
between 1950 and 2007. Question: What are two trends that you can see in these data? (Data
from UN Food and Agriculture Organization, U.S. Census Bureau, and Worldwatch Institute)
Fig. 12-9, p. 287
 140

120

100
(millions of metric tons)

80
Wild catch
Production

60

40

20 Aquaculture

0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Year
Total World Fish Catch

Fig. 12-9, p. 287

 Industrialized Food Production
Requires Huge Inputs of Energy
• Mostly nonrenewable energy – oil and natural gas
• Farm machinery
• Irrigate crops
• Produce pesticides (petrochemicals)
• Commercial inorganic fertilizers
• Process and transport food
• 19% of total fossil fuel energy use in U.S.
• U.S. food travels an average of 2,400 kilometers
 12-3 What Environmental Problems
Arise from Food Production?
• Concept 12-3 Food production in the future may be
limited by its serious environmental impacts,
including soil erosion and degradation,
desertification, water and air pollution, greenhouse
gas emissions, and degradation and destruction of
biodiversity.
 Producing Food Has Major
Environmental Impacts
• Harmful effects of agriculture on
• Biodiversity
• Soil
• Water
• Air
• Human health
 Natural Capital Degradation: Food
Production
Figure :Food production
has a number of harmful
environmental effects
(Concept 12-3). According
to a 2008 study by the
FAO, more than 20% of
the world’s cropland (65%
in Africa) has been
degraded to some degree
by soil erosion, and
chemical pollution.
Question: Which item in
each of these categories
do you believe is the most
harmful?
 Natural Capital Degradation

Food Production

Biodiversity Loss Soil Water Air Pollution Human Health

Loss and degradation of Erosion Water waste Emissions of Nitrates in drinking
grasslands, forests, and greenhouse gas CO2 water (blue baby)
Loss of fertility Aquifer depletion
wetlands in cultivated from fossil fuel use
areas Increased runoff,
Salinization Pesticide residues in
sediment pollution, drinking water,
Emissions of
Waterlogging and flooding from food, and air
Fish kills from greenhouse gas N2O
cleared land
pesticide runoff Desertification from use of inorganic
Pollution from fertilizers Contamination
Killing wild predators pesticides and of drinking and
to protect livestock Increased acidity fertilizers Emissions of
greenhouse gas swimming water
methane (CH4) by from livestock
Algal blooms and wastes
Loss of genetic diversity fish kills in lakes cattle (mostly
of wild crop strains and rivers caused belching) Bacterial
replaced by monoculture by runoff of contamination of
Other air pollutants
strains fertilizers and from fossil fuel use and meat
agricultural wastes pesticide sprays Fig. 12-10, p. 289
Topsoil Erosion Is a Serious Problem in
Parts of the World
• Soil erosion
• Movement of soil by wind and water
• Natural causes
• Human causes

• Two major harmful effects of soil erosion

• Loss of soil fertility
• Water pollution
 Topsoil Erosion on a Farm in Tennessee

Figure : Flowing water from rainfall is the leading cause of topsoil

erosion as seen on this farm in the U.S. state of Tennessee.
Fig. 12-11, p. 289
Natural Capital Degradation: Gully Erosion
in Bolivia

Figure : Natural capital degradation.

Severe gully erosion is a serious problem on this cropland in Bolivia.
 Wind Removes Topsoil in Dry Areas

Figure : Wind is an important cause of topsoil erosion in dry areas that

are not covered by vegetation such as this bare crop field in the U.S.
state of Iowa.
 Natural Capital Degradation: Global Soil
Erosion

Figure 12.14: Natural capital degradation.

Topsoil erosion is a serious problem in some parts of the world. In 2008, the Chinese government estimated that one-third of China’s land
suffers from serious topsoil erosion. Question: Can you see any geographical pattern associated with this problem? (Data from UN
Environment Programme and the World Resources Institute)
Serious concern
Some concern
Stable or nonvegetative

Fig. 12-14, p. 291

Serious concern
Some concern
Stable or
nonvegetative

Stepped Art
Fig. 12-14, p. 291
 Drought and Human Activities Are
Degrading Drylands
• Desertification
• Moderate
• Severe
• Very severe

• Human agriculture accelerates desertification

• Effect of global warming on desertification

Desertification occurs when the productive potential
of dry lands (arid or semiarid land) falls by 10% or
more because of a combination of natural climate
change that causes prolonged drought and human activities
that reduce or degrade topsoil.
The process can be moderate (a 10–25% drop in productivity),
severe (a 25–50% drop), or very severe (a drop of more than
50%, usually creating huge gullies and sand dunes).
Only in extreme cases does desertification lead to what we call
desert. Human activities have accelerated desertification
in some parts of the world.
Severe Desertification

Fig. 12-15, p. 291

 According to a 2003 U.N. conference on desertification,
one-third of the world’s cropland and rangeland and 70% of all
dry lands are suffering from the effects of desertification. U.N.
officials estimate that this loss of soil productivity directly
affects 250 million people and threatens the livelihoods of up
to 1 billion people in 110 countries (70 in Africa).

In the 1930s, severe desertification created a dust bowl in the

Midwestern United States that displaced several million
people.
• Two countries suffering heavy losses of land from advancing
deserts are China and Nigeria, respectively the most populous
countries in Asia and Africa. Over the last 50 years, expanding
deserts have displaced tens of millions of people from 24,000
villages in northern and western China and destroyed large areas
of cropland and rangeland. Much of the soil in northwest China
has dried out, and satellite photos show huge dust storms
covering once fertile cropfields, roads, and villages with sand. The
Gobi has advanced to within 240 kilometers (150 miles) of China’s
capital city of Beijing, setting off alarm bells for China’s leaders.
To help protect the city, the government is planting a $1 billion
wall of evergreen trees.
Natural Capital Degradation: Desertification of
Arid and Semiarid Lands

Figure: Natural capital degradation.

This map shows how desertification of arid and semiarid lands varied in 2007. It is
caused by a combination of prolonged drought and human activities that expose
topsoil to erosion. Question: Can you see any geographical pattern associated with
this problem? (Data from UN Environment Programme, Harold E. Drengue, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook,
Moderate Severe Very severe

Fig. 12-16, p. 292

 Excessive Irrigation Has Serious
Consequences
• Salinization
• Gradual accumulation of salts in the soil from
irrigation water
• Lowers crop yields and can even kill plants
• Affects 10% of world croplands

• Waterlogging
• Irrigation water gradually raises water table
• Can prevent roots from getting oxygen
• Affects 10% of world croplands
 Natural Capital Degradation: Severe
Salinization on Heavily Irrigated Land

Figure: Natural capital degradation.

Because of high evaporation, poor drainage, and severe salinization, white alkaline
salts have displaced crops that once grew on this heavily irrigated land in the U.S.
state of Colorado.
 Agriculture Contributes to Air Pollution
and Projected Climate Change
• Clearing and burning of forests for croplands

• One-fourth of all human-generated greenhouse

gases

• Livestock contributes 18% of gases: methane in cow

belches
Food and Biofuel Production Systems Have
Caused Major Biodiversity Losses
• Biodiversity threatened when
• Forest and grasslands are replaced with croplands –
tropical forests

• Agrobiodiversity threatened when

• Human-engineered monocultures are used
Genetic Engineering Could Solve Some
Problems but Create Others
• Pros

• Cons
 Genetic Engineering Could Solve Some
Problems but Create Others
• Despite its promise, considerable controversy has arisen over
the use of genetically modified food (GMF) and other forms of
genetic engineering. Its producers and investors see this kind
of food as a potentially sustainable way to solve world hunger
problems and improve human health. Some critics consider it
potentially dangerous “Franken food.” Figure summarizes the
projected advantages and disadvantages of this new
technology.
 Trade-Offs: Genetically Modified Crops and
Foods
Figure: Genetically modified crops
and foods can have some or all of
the advantages and disadvantages
listed here. Questions: Which two
advantages and which two
disadvantages do you think are the
most important? Why?

Fig. 12-18, p. 294

 Trade-Offs

Genetically Modified
Crops and Foods

Advantages Disadvantages

Need less fertilizer Unpredictable

genetic and
Need less water ecological effects
Harmful toxins and new
More resistant to allergens in food
insects, disease,
frost, and drought No increase in yields

Grow faster More pesticide-resistant

insects and herbicide-
May need less resistant weeds
pesticides or tolerate
higher levels of Could disrupt seed
herbicides market
May reduce energy Lower genetic
needs diversity
Fig. 12-18, p. 294
Critics recognize the potential benefits of genetically modified crops.
But they warn that we know too little about the long-term potential
harm to human health and ecosystems from the widespread use of
such crops.
Also, if they cause some unintended harmful genetic and ecological
effects, as some scientists expect, genetically modified organisms
cannot be recalled or cleaned up like a chemical spill can.
For example, there is concern that genetically modified food strains
can be transferred by wind or released accidentally into areas
beyond where they are planted.
The new strains can then form hybrids with wild crop varieties and
reduce the natural genetic biodiversity of wild strains. This could
reduce the gene pool needed to crossbreed new crop varieties and to
develop genetically engineered varieties.
Most scientists and economists who have evaluated the genetic
engineering of crops believe that its potential benefits outweigh its
risks. But critics call for more controlled field experiments, more
research, long-term safety testing to better understand the risks,
and stricter regulation of this rapidly growing technology.

A 2004 study by the Ecological Society of America recommended

more caution in releasing genetically engineered organisms into the
environment without stricter government regulation of such
releases.
Another issue related to GMF arises from court decisions
granting seed companies patents (and thus exclusive ownership) of
genetically modified crop varieties.

Companies with such patents have successfully sued some farmers

for saving and using their seeds the next
year rather than buying a new batch of seeds.
Critics of patenting genetically engineered crop and animal varieties
argue that it represents a private takeover of a common heritage—
the work of all the farmers over the last 10,000 years.

Many farmers in developing countries, who are too poor to buy

patented seeds each year, have refused to respect the patent
claims on such seeds. Seed companies say they have spent large
amounts of money developing these new varieties and that patents
allow them to recoup their expenses and make profits.
Many analysts and consumer advocates believe governments should
require mandatory labeling of GMFs to help consumers make
informed choices about the foods they buy. Such labeling is required
in Japan, Europe, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand. At least 75% of Americans support mandatory labeling of
GMFs.
In the United States, industry representatives and the USDA oppose
such labeling, claiming that GMFs are not substantially different from
foods developed by conventional crossbreeding methods, and that
labeling would be expensive. Also, they fear—probably correctly—
that labeling such foods would hurt sales by arousing suspicion. In
1996, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the USDA position that
labeling of GMFs should not be required simply because consumers
want such information.
 There Are Limits to Expanding the
Green Revolutions
• Usually require large inputs of fertilizer, pesticides,
and water
• Often too expensive for many farmers

• Can we expand the green revolution by

• Irrigating more cropland?
• Improving the efficiency of irrigation?
• Cultivating more land? Marginal land?
• Using GMOs?
• Multicropping?
 Industrialized Meat Production Has
Harmful Environmental Consequences
• Advantages

• Disadvantages
 Trade-Offs: Animal Feedlots

Figure: Animal feedlots

and confined animal
feeding operations
have advantages and
disadvantages.
Questions: Which
single advantage and
which single
disadvantage do you
think are the most
important? Why?

Fig. 12-19, p. 295

 Trade-Offs

Animal Feedlots

Advantages Disadvantages
Increased meat Large inputs of grain,
production fish meal, water, and
fossil fuels
Higher profits
Greenhouse gas (CO2
Less land use and CH4) emissions

Reduced
Concentration of
overgrazing
animal wastes that
can pollute water
Reduced soil
erosion
Use of antibiotics can
increase genetic
Protection of resistance to microbes
biodiversity in humans
Fig. 12-19, p. 295
Producing Fish through Aquaculture Can
Harm Aquatic Ecosystems
• Advantages

• Disadvantages
 Trade-Offs: Aquaculture

Figure: Aquaculture has

advantages and
disadvantages.
Questions: Which single
advantage and which
single disadvantage do
you think are the most
important? Why?

Fig. 12-20, p. 296

 Trade-Offs

Aquaculture

Advantages Disadvantages

High efficiency Large inputs of land,

feed, and water

High yield Large waste output

Loss of mangrove
Reduced over-
forests and estuaries
harvesting of
fisheries
Some species fed with
grain, fish meal, or fish
Low fuel use oil

Dense populations
High profits vulnerable to disease

Fig. 12-20, p. 296

 12-4 How Can We Protect Crops from
Pests More Sustainably?
• Concept 12-4 We can sharply cut pesticide use
without decreasing crop yields by using a mix of
cultivation techniques, biological pest controls, and
small amounts of selected chemical pesticides as a
last resort (integrated pest management).
 Nature Controls the Populations of
Most Pests
• What is a pest?
• Interferes with human welfare

• Natural enemies—predators, parasites, disease

organisms—control pests
• In natural ecosystems
• In many polyculture agroecosystems

• What will happen if we kill the pests?

Natural Capital: Spiders are Important
Insect Predators

Fig. 12-21, p. 297

 We Use Pesticides to Try to Control
Pest Populations (1)
• Pesticides
• Insecticides
• Herbicides
• Fungicides
• Rodenticides

• Herbivores overcome plant defenses through natural

selection: coevolution
 We Use Pesticides to Try to Control
Pest Populations (2)
• First-generation pesticides
• Borrowed from plants

• Second-generation pesticides
• Lab produced: DDT and others
• Benefits versus harm

• Broad-spectrum and narrow-spectrum agents

• Persistence varies
 Individuals Matter: Rachel Carson

• Biologist

• Silent Spring

• Potential threats of uncontrolled use of pesticides

Rachel Carson, Biologist

Fig. 12-B, p. 298

 Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have
Several Advantages
• Save human lives

• Increases food supplies and profits for farmers

• Work quickly

• For many, health risks are very low relative to

benefits

• New pest control methods: safer and more effective

 Modern Synthetic Pesticides Have
Several Disadvantages (1)
• Accelerate rate of genetic resistance in pests

• Expensive for farmers

• Some insecticides kill natural predators and parasites

that help control the pest population
• Pollution in the environment

• Some harm wildlife

• Some are human health hazards

 Pesticide Use Has Not Reduced U.S.
Crop Losses to Pests
• David Pimentel: Pesticide use has not reduced U.S.
crop loss to pests
• 1942-1997: crop losses from insects increased from
7% to 13%, even with 10x increase in pesticide use
• High environmental, health, and social costs with use
• Use alternative pest management practices

• Pesticide industry disputes these findings

Trade-Offs: Conventional Chemical
Pesticides

Fig. 12-22, p. 299

 Trade-Offs

Conventional Chemical Pesticides

Advantages Disadvantages
Save lives Promote genetic
resistance
Increase food
supplies Kill natural pest enemies

Profitable Pollute the environment

Work fast Can harm wildlife

and people
Safe if used properly
Are expensive for
farmers

Fig. 12-22, p. 299

What Can You Do? Reducing Exposure to
Pesticides

Fig. 12-23, p. 300

 There Are Alternatives to Using
Pesticides (1)
• Fool the pest
• Crop rotation; changing planting times

• Provide homes for pest enemies

• Polyculture

• Implant genetic resistance – genetic engineering

• Bring in natural enemies

• Predators, parasites, diseases
 Integrated Pest Management Is a
Component of Sustainable Agriculture
• Integrated pest management (IPM)
• Coordinate: cultivation, biological controls, and
chemical tools to reduce crop damage to an
economically tolerable level
• Reduces pollution and pesticide costs

• Disadvantages
• Requires expert knowledge
• High initial costs
• Government opposition
 How Can We Improve Food Security?
• Concept 12-5 We can improve food security by
creating programs to reduce poverty and chronic
malnutrition, relying more on locally grown food, and
cutting food waste.
Use Government Policies to Improve Food
Production and Security
• Control prices to make food affordable

• Provide subsidies to farmers

• Let the marketplace decide—

• Working in New Zealand and Brazil
Agriculture is a financially risky business. Whether farmers have
a good or bad year depends on factors over which they have
little control: weather, crop prices, crop pests and diseases,
interest rates, and global markets.
Governments use three main approaches to influence food
production:

•Control prices. Use price controls to keep food prices artificially

low. Consumers are happy, but farmers may not be able to make
a living.
• Provide subsidies. Give farmers subsidies and tax
breaks to keep them in business and encourage them to
increase food production. Globally, government price
supports, tax breaks, and other subsidies for agriculture
in affluent countries totaled more than $279 billion in
2004 (latest data available; about $133 billion in the
European Union and $46 billion in the United States)—
an average of more than $531,000 per minute! If
government subsidies are too generous and the weather
is good, farmers and livestock producers may produce
more food than can be sold.
The resulting surplus depresses food prices, which reduces the
financial incentive for farmers in developing countries to
increase domestic food production. Some analysts call for
phasing out environmentally harmful farm and fishing subsidies
over the next decade and replacing them with environmentally
beneficial subsidies.
•Let the marketplace decide. Another approach is to eliminate
most or all price controls and subsidies and let farmers and
fishers respond to market demand without government
interference. Some analysts urge that any phase-out of farm and
fishery subsidies should be coupled with increased aid for
the poor and the lower middle class, who would suffer the most
from any increase in food prices.
Some environmental scientists say that instead of
eliminating all subsidies, we should use them to reward
farmers and ranchers who practice more sustainable
agriculture and fishing and to provide job training
programs for out-of-work farmers and fishers.
Other Government and Private Programs
are Increasing Food Security
• Immunizing children against childhood diseases
• Encourage breast-feeding
• Prevent dehydration in infants and children
• Provide family planning services
• Increase education for women

• One-half to one-third of nutrition-related deaths in

children can be prevented for $5-10 per year
 How Can We Produce Food More
Sustainably?
• Concept 12-6 More sustainable food production will
require using resources more efficiently, sharply
decreasing the harmful environmental effects of
industrialized food production, and eliminating
government subsidies that promote such harmful
impacts.
 Reduce Soil Erosion

• Soil conservation, some methods

• Terracing
• Contour planting

• Identify erosion hotspots

 Soil Conservation: Terracing

Figure:
Solutions.
In Bali,
Indonesia,
terraced rice
fields help to
reduce
topsoil
erosion.

Fig. 12-26, p. 305

 Soil Conservation: Contour Planting and
Strip Cropping
Figure: Solutions.
A mixture of
monoculture crops has
been planted in strips on
a farm in central
Wisconsin (USA). The
farmer plants crops
across the contours of
the land (contour
planting) and in
alternating strips of land
(strip cropping) to help
reduce topsoil erosion
and the depletion of soil Fig. 12-27, p. 305
 Soil Conservation: Alley Cropping

Figure: Solutions.
Many farmers reduce topsoil erosion in orchards by growing crops
in rows or alleys between trees Fig. 12-28, p. 305
 Soil Conservation: Windbreaks

Figure: Solutions.
Windbreaks along the edges of these crop fields help to protect topsoil
against wind erosion.
 Restore Soil Fertility

• Organic fertilizer
• Animal manure
• Green manure
• Compost

• Manufactured inorganic fertilizer

• Nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium

• Crop rotation
 Reduce Soil Salinization and
Desertification
• Soil salinization
• Prevention
• Clean-up

• Desertification, reduce
• Population growth
• Overgrazing
• Deforestation
• Destructive forms of planting, irrigation, and mining
 Solutions: Soil Salinization
Figure: There are
several ways to
prevent and clean up
soil salinization
(Concept 12-6).
Questions: Which
two of these
solutions do you
think are the most
important? Why?

Fig. 12-31, p. 308

 Solutions

Soil Salinization

Prevention Cleanup
Flush soil (expensive
and wastes water)
Reduce irrigation

Stop growing crops for

2–5 years

Switch to salt- Install underground

tolerant crops drainage systems
(expensive)

Fig. 12-31, p. 308

Practice More Sustainable Aquaculture

• Open-ocean aquaculture
• Choose herbivorous fish

• Polyculture
 Solutions: More Sustainable Aquaculture
Figure : We can
make aquaculture
more sustainable
and reduce its
harmful effects.
Questions: Which
two of these
solutions do you
think are the most
important? Why?

Fig. 12-32, p. 308

 Produce Meat More Efficiently and
Humanely
• Shift to more grain-efficient forms of protein

• Beef from rangelands and pastures, not feedlots

• Develop meat substitutes; eat less meat

We Can Rely More on Low-Input
Sustainable Agriculture
There are three main ways to reduce hunger and
malnutrition and the harmful environmental effects of
agriculture:
• Slow population growth.
• Sharply reduce poverty so that people can grow or
buy enough food for their survival and good health.
Develop and phase in systems of more sustainable,
low-input agriculture over the next few decades. One
component of this is increased use of organic
agriculture in which crops are grown without, or
with limited use of, synthetic pesticides and synthetic
fertilizers, and livestock are raised without synthetic
growth regulators and feed additives.
More sustainable agriculture can help reduce excessive
dependence on oil by increasing the use of renewable
fuels. Some farmers have shown that they can use
energy from the sun, wind, and flowing water, and
natural gas produced from farm wastes for most or all
of the energy they need for food production.
They can also make money by selling their excess
electricity to power companies. Sustainably produced
crops can also provide transportation fuels such as
ethanol and biodiesel, and plastic packaging can be made
from cornstarch instead of oil-based chemicals.
Most proponents of more sustainable agriculture
are not opposed to high-yield agriculture. Instead, they
see it as vital for protecting the earth’s biodiversity by
reducing the need to cultivate new and often marginal
land. They call for using environmentally sustainable
forms of both high-yield polyculture and high-yield
monoculture, with increasing emphasis on using organic
methods for growing crops.
 Shift to More Sustainable Agriculture
(1)
• Sustainable agriculture uses fewer inputs, creates
less pollution, and contributes less to global warming

• Organic farming
• Many benefits
• Requires more labor
 Shift to More Sustainable Agriculture
(2)
• Strategies for more sustainable agriculture
• Research on organic agriculture with human nutrition
in mind
• Show farmers how organic agricultural systems work
• Subsidies and foreign aid
• Training programs; college curricula
• Encourage hydroponics
• Greater use of alternative energy
Solutions: More Sustainable Organic Agriculture

Fig. 12-34, p. 310

 Solutions

More Sustainable Agriculture

More Less
High-yield polyculture Soil erosion
Soil salinization
Organic fertilizers
Water pollution
Biological pest
Aquifer depletion
control
Overgrazing
Integrated pest
management Overfishing

Efficient irrigation Loss of biodiversity and

agrobiodiversity
Perennial crops
Fossil fuel use
Crop rotation
Greenhouse gas
Water-efficient crops
emissions
Soil conservation
Subsidies for
Subsidies for unsustainable
sustainable farming farming
Fig. 12-34, p. 310
Solutions: Organic Farming

Fig. 12-35, p. 311

 Solutions
Organic Farming

 Improves soil fertility

 Reduces soil erosion

 Retains more water in soil

during drought years
 Uses about 30% less energy per
unit of yield
 Lowers CO2 emissions
 Reduces water pollution by
recycling livestock wastes

 Eliminates pollution from

pesticides
 Increases biodiversity above
and below ground
 Benefits wildlife such as birds
and bats
Fig. 12-35, p. 311
 Science Focus: Sustainable
Polycultures of Perennial Crops
• Polycultures of perennial crops

• Wes Jackson: natural systems agriculture benefits

• No need to plow soil and replant each year
• Reduces soil erosion and water pollution
• Deeper roots – less irrigation needed
• Less fertilizer and pesticides needed
Comparison of the Roots between an Annual Plant
and a Perennial Plant

Figure: The roots of an annual

wheat crop plant (left) are much
shorter than those of big bluestem
(right), a tallgrass prairie perennial
plant. The perennial plant is in the
ground year-round and is much
better at using water and
nutrients, and at helping to
maintain healthy topsoil. It also
needs less fertilizer

Fig. 12-C, p. 312

Buy Locally Grown Food, Grow More Food
Locally, and Cut Food Waste
• Supports local economies

• Reduces environmental impact on food production

• Community-supported agriculture
What Can You Do? Sustainable Organic
Agriculture

Fig. 12-37, p. 313

 Three Big Ideas

1. More than 1 billion people have health problems

because they do not get enough to eat and 1.1
billion people face health problems from eating too
much.

2. Modern industrialized agriculture has a greater

harmful impact on the environment than any other
human activity.
 Three Big Ideas

3. More sustainable forms of food production will

greatly reduce the harmful environmental impacts
of current systems while increasing food security.